BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

Margaret (Peggy) Penn Harvey

January 12 1878 - November 27 1963

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Peggy Harvey was born in Cumminsville, Ontario, "near Hamilton," and came west with her family as a child. Both of her parents were from England. After "spending some time on the Prairies" she moved to Kelowna, where she was living in 1927.

She went to school in Saskatchewan, then was educated at the Regina Normal School. She went to Toronto for further education at the Westminster College, a "Resident School For The Education of Girls and Young Women." She took further studies at the Press Art School in London, England, and through the Federal School of Commercial Design in Minneapolis, MN., which was a correspondence school.

Her cartoons began to be published in the Vancouver Province and the Calgary Herald, with series like Vic's Vacation in the Okanagan.

On March 5 1918 she had a sophisticated cartoon published in the Calgary Herald. Titled The Big Drive it shows the German Kaiser trying to golf his way across a deep blast crater and over a wall titled "Allies." His golf club is titled 1918, and broken clubs titled 1915, 1916 and 1917 lie on the ground around him.

A 1927 article in the Province notes that she showed professional cartoonist J.B. Fitzmaurice a book "she had written for children, and some illustrations" and that he recommended that she send some of her drawings to the newspapers, which she did. The Vancouver Province published a number of her drawings and poems on the childrens' page, including a series titled New Adventures of Old Friends in 1926-27, in which the stories about Mother Hubbard, Three Blind Mice, and Froggy Went a Courting get updated to the 20th century.

Harvey also produced radio programs for children, one was titled Mother Goose in Radioland.

She illustrated a "widely syndicated series" called The Kanady Kids written by Martha Eugenie Perry, published locally from December 1929 to April 1930 in the Province.

She exhibited work at the Vancouver Art Gallery in the first annual 1932 B.C. Artists exhibition. She was not listed in the City Directories in 1932 or 1933, and was living at 510 - 751 Granville Street in 1934. In 1935 she was living at 5 - 2449 West 3rd Avenue. From 1936 to 1939 she was listed as "artist" at that address. From 1940 to 1941 she is listed as "artist and author" at that address, from 1942 to 1943 just "artist," and she is not listed from 1944 on.

Harvey wrote, illustrated, and self published a small pamphlet titled A Whimsical Vancouverite in 1936, while she was living in Vancouver.

     
(click for more information)

In 1939 the Vancouver Sun had a Great Coloring Competition for Sun-Rays starting February. A series of six cartoons were to be coloured and titled, and a title created for the whole series, for which $15 in cash prizes would be awarded. In addition to the six cartoons, Harvey also wrote a little story titled Story of a Queer Snowman which was her own version of the story.

Another book of verse by Harvey titled Crumbs From the Kitchen was published by Ryerson in 1942. Cost $1.25. A review noted that it consisted of "two baker's dozens" of illustrated verses.

The Vancouver Province published a series of cartoons titled B.C. Femmes on the Loam Front in 1944 from July to September.


She reportedly lived in a number of locations over the years:
Date Location Reference
1878 - c1881 Cumminsville ON Early Canadian Women Writers
c1881 - c1891 County of Peel ON newspaper article
c1891 - c1901 Qu'appelle SK newspaper article
c1901 - c1911 Indian Head SK newspaper article
1926 Kelowna newspaper article, not in City Directory
1929 - 1930 Kelowna City Directory: "Harvey, Margt H."
c1935 - 1943 Vancouver newspaper article, City Directories
1943 - c1948 (Cawston?) name by Early Canadian Women Writers
c1948 - 1963 Vernon death certificate

It is also noted that she had apparently lived in Kilbride ON.

Results from City Directories:
1920 not listed in Cawston, Kelowna, Vancouver
1921 not in Cawston, Kelowna
1922 not in Cawston, Kelowna, Vancouver
---
1926 not in Cawston, Kelowna, Vancouver
1927 not in Cawston, Kelowna, Vancouver, Vernon
1928 not in Cawston, Kelowna, Vancouver, Vernon
1929 Kelowna "Harvey, Margt H."
1930 Kelowna "Harvey, Margt H."
1931 not Kelowna, Vancouver has "Harvey, Margt r 5812 Fleming" (res of Eggleton, A.E.)
1932 not Cawston, Kelowna, Vancouver
1933 Vancouver "Harvey, Margt r 1649 Comox" (res Grant, R.J.)
1934 Vancouver "Harvey, Margt r 3403 Pr Edward" (res "Harvey, R.G.")
1935 Vancouver "Harvey, Peggy r 5 2449 W 3rd" (by name); Sangster Court "Harvey, Miss P." (by address)
1936 Vancouver "Harvey, Peggy artist r 5 2449 W 3rd" Sangster Court
1937 Vancouver "Harvey, Peggy artist r 5 2449 W 3rd" Sangster Court
---
1943 Vancouver "Harvey, Peggy artist r 5 2449 W 3rd" Sangster Court
1944 not Cawston, Kelowna, Vancouver, Vernon
---
1948 not Kelowna, Vernon
1949 no BC Towns directory posted
1950 no BC Towns directory posted
1951 Vernon City Directory: "Harvey, Miss P.P. artist h 21 2000 32 Av"
1952 no BC Towns directory posted
1953 no BC Towns directory posted
1954 Vernon City & North Okanagan Directory: Vernon "Harvey, Peggy P. r 2003 32 Av"
1955 Vernon City & North Okanagan Directory: Vernon "Harvey, Peggy P. r 3 2003 32 Av"

She contributed to at least a dozen periodicals including the Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Hamilton Spectator, Montreal News, Ottawa Journal, Vancouver Province, Toronto Evening Telegram, Victoria Colonist, and the Winnipeg Free Press.

Harvey died in Vernon in 1963. Her death certificate on B.C. Vital Statistics notes that she had lived in Canada all her life, in B.C. for 45 years, and in Vernon for 15 years. She was single, age 85, living at 3003 20th Street in Vernon. She was retired, and "last worked" in 1960. Interestingly the certificate gives her birthdate as January 12 1878, one year later than other sources. Her nephew in Vernon witnessed the certificate.


GROUP EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION ARTWORK
1932 Oct. 5 - 30 VAG   B.C. Artists 1st Annual Head of Old Indian

References

Westminster College 1906-07 Annual (for reference only)
https://archive.org/details/westminstercolle00west_0/page/1/mode/1up?view=theater

Database of Canadian Early Women Writers:
https://doceww.dhil.lib.sfu.ca/person/1996

Early Canadian Women Writers:
https://cwrc.ca/islandora/object/ceww%3A1e8e0496-cea5-4711-b47d-3d31ad4add1c

B.C. VITAL STATISTICS ON-LINE death (refer to BCVS)

Clippings

"Artist Who Sketches Nursery Rhyme Characters Is Canadian Visiting This City"
      Vancouver Province August 27 1927

"Sketch Club Members Exhibit Their Works"
      Vancouver Sun January 18 1932

"Unusual Souvenir of Vancouver" (A Whimsical Vancouverite)
      Vancouver Province November 21 1936

"(book review)" (A Whimsical Vancouverite)
      Vancouver Sun November 28 1936

"Hundreds Enter Competition" (coloring contest)
      Vancouver Sun February 28 1939

"Homely Verse By B.C. Writer" (Crumbs From The Kitchen)
      Vancouver Province September 26 1942

"Grateful For Food" (letter to the editor by Harvey)
      Vancouver Province March 19 1946

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